[.ca] Megatokyo: Volume 2 (ISBN 1593071183)

l33tI\sI3$$:
Can @nyone sp3ak l33t? L3t @lon3 underst@nd i7? I c@n kind@. I @bsolutely luv thi$ b00k. I s@y u @ll should read it at least 0nce!

l33t speak, fanboys, ninjas, and the occasional Rent-A-Zilla:
To recap. Megatokyo Volume 1 follows the adventures of gamers Piro and Largo who are stranded in Japan. After nearly being arrested for making a commotion at a gaming convention back in the US, Piro "kidnaps" a drunk Largo and takes him to Japan until things cool down. Stranded and penniless, Piro e-mails one of his online friends living in Japan (Tsubasa) and convinces him to let Piro and Largo crash on his couch for a "couple of days" until they can get one of their friends back in the US to wire them money. 6 weeks later Piro and Largo are still parked in front of Tsubasa's PS2. Book Two continues with the story... In Megatokyo Volume 2 Piro and Largo are still stranded in Japan. Piro's friend Tsubasa has sold all his possessions to move to the US in search of his first love. Piro and Largo are left only with an eviction notice and a life-sized (and fully interactive) "Emotional Doll System" PS2 accessory prototype named Ping. Piro manages to find a job at a local gaming shop called Megagamers where he works with a violent ex-Japanese idol named Erica. While Piro sinks further into self pity, Largo is obsessed with tracking down and destroying the "zombie queen" (a local teenager who seems to know a lot about Piro and Largo), who ends up befriending Ping in order to observe Piro and Largo more closely. Megotokyo Volume 2 really seems like two stories in one. One story told by Piro and the other by Largo. Expect lots of l33t speak, fanboys, ninjas, and the occasional Rent-A-Zilla. A Great read! Make sure to check out the action in the background panel. They contain some of the best running jokes.

Singing the praises:
I must say, congrats to Fred for getting picked up by Dark Horse! This is an amazing comic, been reading it now for... 2 years or so I think.. Keeps you coming back for more all the time. As for book 2.. A much better quality than book one was by IronCat.. I have the IronCat book 1, but as soon as Dark Horse relases it, I'm getting that one as well. This is a must read for everyone, this WILL become the staple must read for all manga fans, as much as Akira and Ghost In The Shell is for anime fans.

L33T:
This installment of Megatokyo is a big improvement from volume one. The most noticeable change is the lack of notes at the bottom of each page. Those really slowed down the first book. The other improvements are character development and story complexity. There is good news for Chobits fans. The PS2 accessory, Ping, takes on a bigger roll this time. Also Erika and Hayasaka are drawn so you can tell them apart. Unfortunately, the stick figures from the first book are present in volume two, but it's only for two pages. Volume two definitely has a high school feel to it, opposed to the PS2 feel of the first. I enjoyed seeing Largo teach English. It's good to have him doing something constructive. Although in the end, I was rooting for Piro.

Enjoyable and accessible:
Ever since my introduction to this webcomic two years ago, I have thoroughly enjoyed my weekly adventures into the world of Megatokyo and the misadventures of Piro and Largo, two American gamers stranded in Japan. (A circumstance that is entirely their own fault, I might add.) Fred Gallagher and Dark Horse Comics combined to produce this wonderful print copy of Chapters 1 and 2 of the Megatokyo story, adding the highly amusing, if painful to see, SGD strips and a new section collecting the drawings of Piro and Largo's gameworld and an excellent short story based on that world. I hope to see more print editions of Megatokyo and maybe even a continuation of the Endgames story. Highly, highly recommended.